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Duration of first remission as an indicator of long‐term survival in chronic myelogenous leukaemia
Author(s) -
Prischl Friedrich C.,
Haas Oskar A.,
Lion Thomas,
Eyb Richard,
Schwarzmeier Josef D.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1989.tb04289.x
Subject(s) - medicine , busulfan , chemotherapy , philadelphia chromosome , survival analysis , gastroenterology , complete remission , cyclophosphamide , surgery , chromosomal translocation , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
Summary Approximately 31 patients with chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) are documented in the literature who survived more than 10 years after diagnosis. We present a CML‐patient whose survival of 27 years is probably the longest reported so far. The analysis of the course of disease in these patients revealed that the duration of unmaintained first remission after chemotherapy is of high prognostic significance. In 17 of 24 evaluable patients the remission lasted more than 1 year and in another five at least 6 months (mean 73.8 months, range 0‐240 months). In most patients busulfan was used as initial therapy. There was no correlation between the amount of drug given and the duration of remission or survival. Other parameters such as sex, age, initial leucocyte counts, differential count, haemoglobin, platelet count or spleen size seemed to have no prognostic relevance. While approximately 25% of CML patients with typical duration of survival exhibit a ‐Ph l chromosome mosaicism only, this finding was present in nearly half of the long‐term survivers.